British and European expertise for the new EU-UK relationship.

Our Team

Martin Bailey

Chair of Pro Europa

Martin has worked in law, communications, policy and politics, and made his connection with Europe from a young age through a love of European languages and culture (as pictured, Shakespeare rehearsal in Luxembourg).

David Earnshaw

Vice-Chair of Pro Europa

David is a member of the Labour Party, the Chief Executive Officer of Burson-Marsteller Brussels, and a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges.

Peter Wragg

Tresurer of Pro Europa

Kavita Ahluwalia

Member of the Steering Group

Ian Bearder

Member of the Steering Group

Ian is originally from a small village called Wendlebury, near Bicester. He is an IT and communications professional who has spent much of his adult life exploring Europe.

After graduating with a degree in Software Engineering, Ian travelled to all 49 European countries to win a £20 bet. He has lived, worked and studied in the UK, Slovenia, and Hungary, and he recently moved to Belgium after three years in Ukraine where he worked as a reporter for a 24-hour news channel.

Tim Beyer Helm

Member of the Steering Group

Susan Bird

Member of the Steering Group

Sue echoes Pro Europa’s passion about the EU and about the UK remaining in it with a positive engagement. Coming from a languages and public policy-based educational background, she jumped at an early chance to move to Brussels and gain wide policy-making and programme management experience here. She took the Pro Europa invitation to “get involved” seriously, and having written an article for a UK faith-based journal, has been encouraging a fledgling campaign group in the UK.

Vincent Clay

Member of the Steering Group

Vincent works in government affairs at a pharmaceutical company. After growing up in Bristol, he studied English literature at Cambridge and University College London, and began his career in marketing strategy. He moved to Brussels in 2009. In the UK, Brussels is presented as distant, disconnected and anonymous – which is at odds with his experience of finding it accessible, comprehensible and full of people who care about the future of Europe, and Britain within it. The gap between these perceptions has motivated him to work with Pro Europa to help increase British understanding of the EU.

Nick Crosby

Member of the Steering Group

Nick is an independent management and communications consultant. He has been a life- long pro European and has been involved in a number of campaigning groups, including being Director of the European Movement and founder of the Jean Monnet Circle in London. Why Europe? Because he believes in working with one’s friends, neighbours and allies to get stuff done in an increasingly interdependent- and risky world.

James Galand-Jones

Member of the Steering Group

John Higgins

Member of the Steering Group

John is director general of DIGITALEUROPE, the Brussels-based association representing the tech sector. He’s been a tech start-up CEO in California and is a Council member of the University of Warwick. Having witnessed the close call in Scotland, John sees even more clearly the damage, cost and chaos that would follow a Brexit.

Sharon Leclercq-Spooner

Member of the Steering Group

Martin Porter

Member of the Steering Group

Martin has followed his belief that his country’s interests are best served by being actively involved in the European Union by doing so himself – coming to Brussels in 1996.

Martin is now Chair of Edelman Europe’s Public Affairs Practice, having previously co-founded The Centre, a hybrid of a consultancy and a platform for debate on EU issues.

Martin is also a Board Member of the European Institute at the University College London and a Senior Associate of the Cambridge University Programme for Sustainability Leadership.

Scott McCulloch

Member of the Steering Group

Scott worked as a solicitor before undertaking a masters in European Studies at KU Leuven. During his studies Scott chose to focus on EU constitutional law and various areas of EU policy. He now works in EU policy monitoring and believes that the UK needs a close relationship with the EU to ensure its standing as an influencing actor in the EU and beyond.

Currently, Scott is undertaking a private initiative to identify the funding gaps left by ‘Brexit’ in order to ascertain what the impact may be on services and programmes in your local area.

Tim McPhie

Member of the Steering Group

Tim has lived and worked in Brussels since 2005. He studied Law with French Law and Language in the UK and France. His experience as an Erasmus student combined with his love for European languages and travel are at the heart of his pro-European commitment. He believes that the EU’s core mission of breaking down cultural barriers and fighting against inequality provides benefits to all Europeans and must be passionately defended.

Louise Reid

Member of the Steering Group

Natalie Sarkic-Todd

Member of the Steering Group

Natalie is a public affairs and communications professional who has worked in government, industry and consultancy in the UK and Europe. A former diplomat who believes that Britain benefits when it engages in the world. She is proud of the British traditions of democratic debate, good governance, human rights and tolerance. She wants to see these upheld in an informed debate about Britain’s role in the EU.

Julian Scola

Member of the Steering Group

Tom Skinner

Member of the Steering Group

Tom Spencer

Tom is a former Conservative MEP from 1979-84 & 1989-99. He was previously Assistant to Director of Britain in Europe, Referendum Campaign 1975. He is a Member Council of European Movement and Conservative Europe Group, Visiting Professor of Public Affairs at Universities of Brunel & Chester and Vice Chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change.